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Round enamel medallion with St. Jerome, lion, and crucifix
Round enamel medallion with John the Baptist and Christ in the river being baptized
Detail of muscles in man's calves and thighs
Counter-enamel
Detail of mans leg and knee
Christ being crowned with thorns
Christ with thorns and man holding gold plant
Central plaque with Christ being crowned with thorns
Figures looking over stone ledge
Figures looking over stone ledge
Man in blue on bended knee with Chris being crowned with thorns
Man in blue on bended knee
Round enamel medallion with prophet become stone niche and landscape
Plaque: Christ Crowned with Thorns
Round enamel medallion with man and bird
Counter-enamel and back of frame
Round enamel medallion with Chris on cross and two figures
Round enamel medallion with Chris flayed by two men
#187: By Ian Wardropper, Director Transcript

Pierre Reymond developed a sophisticated style of enamel painting, and his workshop was extremely prolific. These two plaques depicting scenes from the Passion of Christ, The Agony in the Garden and Christ Crowned with Thorns, may have originally been part of a larger series, but in the nineteenth century they were framed and surrounded with small roundels depicting a range of Christian subjects. The polychrome plaques are modelled on an earlier enamel by Reymond that he executed in grisaille—monochrome painting in black, white, and gray—now in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Technical analysis confirms that the two plaques displayed here were made with the same batch of enamel, but the higher quality of draftsmanship and enamel application in Christ Crowned with Thorns suggests that they were made by different artists working in Reymond’s workshop.

Plaque: Christ Crowned with Thorns

 (French, 1513–after 1584)
Datemid- to late 16th century
MediumPainted enamel on copper, partly gilded
DimensionsPlaque: 8 x 6 1/4 in. (20.3 x 15.9 cm) Roundels: diam. 2 1/16 in. (5.2 cm)
Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Henry Clay Frick, II, 2005
Accession number2005.4.02
Commentary

This enamel may have originally been part of a pair (with 2005.4.01) or part of a larger altarpiece. Although the two plaques were painted by different hands, analysis of the blue enamel in each plaque reveals that they were made in the same workshop and at about the same time. Both depict an episode from the Passion of Christ. In The Agony in the Garden, Jesus kneels in prayer while the saints Peter, John, and James sleep in the foreground. The emphasis is on Jesus’ impending arrest, with Judas and an army approaching on a grassy path painted in a rich blue-green. In the Christ Crowned with Thorns enamel, two tormentors use their weapons to drive the crown of thorns into Christ’s head while a third mocks Christ by placing a reed in his hand as if it were a scepter. The plaques’ monochro­matic palette, dominated by white and gray tones, recalls early enamels in grisaille (a technique using shades of gray) by Pierre Reymond.

Source: Vignon, Charlotte. The Frick Collection Decorative Arts Handbook. New York: The Frick Collection/Scala, 2015.

Not On View
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